It is a tale of two cities. In Boston, a new teachers’ contract was eventually completed without a strike, the glare of the national media spotlight, and most importantly, without closing schools. By contrast, the teachers’ strike in Chicago and ensuing uncertainty left helpless working parents scrambling for day care or forced to take time off from work without pay -- bringing further economic hardship to those already struggling. Needless to say, the city’s half a million students have been ill-served as well.

Advertisement

For all their differences and troubled history, Mayor Menino, the Boston Teachers Union and the Boston Public Schools never used children as pawns, and quietly reached a tentative agreement on a new Union contract.

Boston’s agreement still needs to be fully ratified, and includes elements that proved nearly insurmountable in Chicago. These include lower class size limits, a streamlined evaluation system for teachers and a 12 percent salary increase over six years. Boston teachers will be pushing towards an average of $92,000, extraordinary pay for one of the nation’s shortest school days, but the 2 percent annual raise also speaks to the fiscal realities faced by urban school systems nationwide.

In Boston, neither side got 100 percent of what they wanted, but in spite of protracted negotiations, students did not miss one day of school. That’s one lesson that was lost in Chicago.